News

McAfee lands in Miami, is escorted from plane

By Dan Nakaso dnakaso@mercurynews.com

Posted:
12/13/2012 07:31:46 AM PST

Updated:
12/13/2012 07:32:23 AM PST

The Central American odyssey of Silicon Valley software guru John McAfee appeared over Wednesday night when he landed in Miami, apparently beyond the reach of police in Belize who still want to question him in connection with the shooting death of his neighbor.

When his American Airlines flight landed at Miami International Airport, McAfee was taken off before everyone else, passenger Frank Medina told The Associated Press. Federal authorities planned to escort McAfee through nonpublic areas of the airport after he cleared customs, airport spokesman Greg Chin told the AP.

The United States and Belize signed an extradition treaty in March 2000 but it contains no binding provisions requiring U.S. officials to turn over an American such as McAfee who has not been charged with a crime, said professor David Sloss, director of the Center for Global Law and Policy at the Santa Clara University School of Law.

"If Belize wants the United States to extradite McAfee to Belize, as a formal matter they have to have brought charges against him in order to request extradition," Sloss said. "And there has to be an arrest warrant or some sort of charging document with the evidence they would produce in support of those charges."

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McAfee worked in Santa Clara and founded the anti-virus software firm that bears his name. He is wanted by Belizean police for questioning in connection with the death of his neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull, 52, who was found in his home Nov. 11 with a single gunshot to the back of the head.

Faull, who lived two doors down from McAfee's beachfront compound, had written a letter to Belizean officials complaining about McAfee's dogs and entourage of armed guards in the weeks before he was killed.

McAfee remains "a person of interest" in Faull's killing, authorities said. But Belize police spokesman Raphael Martinez told this newspaper that he could not recall a case in which U.S. officials sent an American to Belize merely for questioning.

"Extradition would entail if someone has actually done a criminal act," Martinez said. McAfee, 67, was dressed in a black suit and tie when he left his 20-year-old girlfriend, Samantha Vanegas, behind at Guatemala City airport Wednesday.

"I'm happy to be going home," McAfee said, according to Reuters. "I've been running through jungles and rivers and oceans and I think I need to rest for a while. And I've been in jail for seven days."

McAfee and Vanegas had been on the run from police in Belize ever since Faull's body was discovered.

From his many hiding places, McAfee taunted Belizean officials in media interviews and constant blog posts with tales of hiding in plain sight with the aid of bizarre disguises that allowed him to watch police searching his home.

While denying any role in Faull's death, McAfee alleged that corrupt police and government officials actually wanted him for failing to pay a bribe, and he said he felt his life would be in danger if he returned.

McAfee is unlikely to face problems from U.S. officials, Sloss said.

"As far as I know he hasn't committed a crime in the United States," Sloss said. "He can't have trouble with U.S. immigration because he's a U.S. citizen."

McAfee's return to America followed a typically bizarre seven days. He was picked up by Interpol agents in Guatemala after his location was revealed by Vice magazine, which ran a photo that Twitter users immediately tracked to Guatemala.

While detained in Guatemala, McAfee's keepers loaned him a laptop, which he used to continue criticizing officials in Belize.

Sometimes writing under the name "Harold M," McAfee wrote about himself in the third person because "Belize officials were reading my blog constantly so I could not post under my own name. Hence, my friend Harold let me use his name. Apparently it worked.

"A couple of times I logged in as myself for a while just to confuse an already confused bureaucracy in Belize. ... Also, I apologize for all the comments I deleted from you clever folks who figured out that Harold was me. I hope you are no longer offended."

Contact Dan Nakaso at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/dannakaso.